In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were many attempts to disenfranchise black voters. The most basic right of a citizen in a democracy is the right to vote. Without this right, people can be easily ignored and even abused by their government. This, in fact, is what happened to African American citizens living in the South following Civil War Reconstruction. Some examples of the attempts to disenfranchise blacks were literacy tests, poll taxes, the grandfather clause, and the Jim Crow Laws. Most of the attempts were crude.
Jim Crow was the systematic practice of promoting the segregation of the Negro peoples which took place especially in the South form the late 1800s through the 1960s (Reed 107). From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states and cities, too could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race.
The Jim Crow Movement was the single most influential factor that led to the immobilization of the black population in America from 1865-1950. These laws were set up by several Supreme Court decisions made after Reconstruction had ended. Some of these decisions were that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was declared unconstitutional and ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not prohibit individuals and private organizations from discriminating on the basis of race. The 1875 law stipulated: "That all persons . shall be entitled to full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement" (Weisbrot 5). "Jim Crow hindered any effort made towards uplifting the black community"(Taylor 12). The Jim Crow Laws legally prevented blanks from having the same opportunities as whites. Some of the first Jim Crow legislation came from the transportation industry. In 1881 Tennessee enacted a law enforcing the segregation of railway cars.
